All posts tagged Kevin McCarthy

House Republicans likely won’t introduce their response to a possible Supreme Court ruling striking down part of the Affordable Care Act until after the court’s decision, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said Monday.

Some Republicans had hoped to unveil a GOP plan ahead of the high court’s ruling, expected later this month, on whether people can continue to receive subsidized insurance coverage in as many as 37 states where residents use the federal HealthCare.gov website to obtain insurance because their states didn’t create exchanges. Read More »

Foreign policy and terrorism dominated Sunday’s political talk shows, with lawmakers discussing issues such as President Barack Obama’s approach to relations with Israel and the role Congress should play in shaping foreign policy Read More »

The number of GOP chairmen empowered to issue subpoenas without holding a committee vote first is expected to double to 12 by the end of the month, GOP aides said. The change would enable committee chairmen to avoid facing Democratic questions or criticism in a public hearing before issuing subpoenas, which require administration officials to produce documents or testify on Capitol Hill.

House rules already give all committees the ability to issue subpoenas and each panel establishes its own procedures for doing so. If a committee doesn’t adopt any special rules, it must vote on whether to issue a subpoena. A simple majority is needed to approve one. In the last session of Congress, six panels had adopted rules allowing their chairman to issue a subpoena without holding a committee meeting first, according to GOP aides. Read More »

The House is planning to vote Friday on legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), said Monday. With Republicans holding even more seats in the lower chamber after November’s elections, the measure is sure to pass.

The vote will be the tenth time since 2011 that the GOP-controlled chamber has passed measures approving the controversial oil-sands pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. The most recent vote came in November, when the House passed it 252-161. Read More »

A few days ago Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, wrote a Think Tank post focusing on what she says are this country’s pressing fiscal issues. For me the good news was that she explicitly agreed that the short-term deficit is smaller and shrinking, and thus no longer a problem. But when she pivoted to what she deemed the real issue–that the long-term debt is too high–she lost me, and possibly a lot of other Americans as well. Read More »

Outgoing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) delivered a farewell speech Thursday morning on the House floor in which he praised the chamber’s bipartisanship and urged lawmakers to push for a more active foreign policy.

House Republicans are split over how to deal with an expiring law that provides government-backed insurance against terrorist attacks. There’s no clear pathway forward despite a 93-4 vote to reauthorize it in the Senate two weeks ago, and if Congress doesn’t act by Dec. 31, the law will expire.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) was signed into law in 2002 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and stemmed in part from fears that private insurers wouldn’t backstop certain real-estate projects or potential targets like pipelines because of uncertainty over who would cover losses from a future terrorist attack. It has been reauthorized twice, in 2005 and 2007. Read More »

Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown, traveling in Mexico on a trade mission Monday, commenting on his relationship with incoming House majority leader and fellow Californian Rep. Kevin McCarthy, described it as one “that probably needs further development.”

The remarks come as the two powerful California politicians stake out positions that are at odds with each other on key policy issues.
Mr. Brown is a Democrat and has made climate change and creating a high-speed bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco priorities. He has also signed a series of laws granting increased rights to illegal immigrants in California, a state that has become a flashpoint in the debate over the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border. Read More »

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.